By Stephen Hobbs | Sacramento Bee
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an effort by Republican legislators to delay Democrats from gerrymandering the state’s congressional districts.
The justices said the legal challenge, filed earlier this week, “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under” the California Constitution.
A group of four Southern California Republican legislators argued Democrats were violating state law by not waiting 30 days to take up bills related to the effort and had asked the Supreme Court to force them to do so.
“We will continue to challenge this unconstitutional power grab in the courts and at the ballot box,” the legislators said in a statement after the ruling. “Californians deserve fair, transparent elections, not secret backroom deals to protect politicians.”
State Sens. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Acton, and Assemblymembers Tri Ta, R-Westminster, and Kate Sanchez, R-Trabuco Canyon, made the request.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state Democratic legislators are pushing for the changes to counteract an effort by the Texas Legislature to modify the state’s maps to send more Republican representatives to Congress after the 2026 midterm election. That came at the urging of President Donald Trump.
Former President Barack Obama endorsed the plans to redraw congressional districts if Texas or another Republican-led state does so to increase the GOP’s chances of maintaining control of Congress after next year’s midterm election.
Obama said that while he opposes partisan gerrymandering, Republicans in Texas acting at President Trump’s behest have forced Democrats’ hand.
If Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy,” he said at a fundraiser Tuesday in Martha’s Vineyard that was first reported by the Associated Press on Wednesday.
“I wanted just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas, and take it to the voters and see what happens,” Obama said, “… but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game. And California is one of the states that has the capacity to offset a large state like Texas.”
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.